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That's a nice bit of kit. I have not seen one with a drop-down graphic equaliser before. I share your frustration with modern audio units. I have a recent Pioneer in my Peugeot 205. Changing the volume (rotary knob) has to be done very delicately when on the move because, if accidentally pressed, the damned thing burrows its way in to various unwanted menus. I then have to stop to sort it out, with the help of the user's manual. Its favourite trick is to revert to Turkish script on the display.

Frustration with 'the modern world' is becoming worryingly more frequent!

This is by no means perfect though - I remember well the volume slider was very sensitive and probe to over adjustment when travelling down bumpy roads. On one occasion I was in the passenger seat and trying to turn it up to listen to I've Got The Key by Urban Cookie Collective (which probably dates i to 1994 or thereabouts) when my dad went over a speed bump. I accidentally flicked the volume up to full and simultaneously moved the fader to 100% front, which caused him to jump somewhat and didn't endear my choice of music to him any more...

I popped a tape in this to test it, only to find that it is completely missing the whole cassette mechanism! Oh well, I wasn't going to be listening to them anyway, an it has a rear input I can use for the phone. Wonder about an internal bluetooth module?

Well, I got it working in the end - didn't bother with the tape function as it turned out that what I thought was a line out was actually a line in. So I now use that with my phone. The tuner isn't as good as a modern one for tuning and locking onto a weak station, but when there is a strong signal it's great!

In other news I've had to replace the power steering ram as that started dripping - swapped a couple of crates of beer with a mate for a good used one Need to replace the front brake discs at some point as there is a bit of judder, and sort out the ABS light which is now always on dimly

Discs now done, and the ABS problem was nothing more than a stuck relay! I'd been dreading fault finding on the ABS, as information (and parts) are scarce! Annoyingly though, the AC started becoming intermittent - coinciding perfectly with the recent hot spell. When it's working it's beautifully cool so I suspect an electrical rather than refrigerant problem.

Discs now done, and the ABS problem was nothing more than a stuck relay! I'd been dreading fault finding on the ABS, as information (and parts) are scarce! Annoyingly though, the AC started becoming intermittent - coinciding perfectly with the recent hot spell. When it's working it's beautifully cool so I suspect an electrical rather than refrigerant problem.

I went out for a run this evening, and on the way back I drove over a piece of slab on our track and caught the edge of it, flicked it up and it hit the underside with a bit of a bang. 30 seconds later the STOP light came on, but at least I was almost home by that point although the back had sunk by the time I parked.

Looking at it a pipe has been pierced, so it must have been weak anyway. I have a set of Kunifer pipes ready to go on, but you need to drop the rear subframe to fit them - and supporting the rear is more difficult without the subframe. I'd bought them to change on the basis of reliability, but not long afterwards I changed jobs so my yearly mileage in it dropped from 20k miles to 5k, and it became less of a priority...

I got the BX up in the air today, which took a while as the front was too low to be able to drive up the ramps, and with no hydraulic pressure it wouldn't rise. No problem, I'll just jack it up I thought - except it was too low to slide the jack under! Only slightly though, so I managed to dig down in order to be able to get the jack in and lift it onto the ramps. Then at the rear I jacked up under the towbar, put axle stands in and dropped (literally ) the subframe.

I've removed one pipe and cracked off all bar two of the pipe unions so far. All straightforward and no problems yet, although the exhaust needs changing and part of the linkage to the rear height corrector is completely missing! It's been showing signs of a sticky height corrector for a little while, so I'll change that while I've got the pipes off

A good chance to check all is well with the subframe mounts. This counts as a valid excuse for missing a day of Shitefest, though we were all sad to hear the Stellar burble gently away... (well, sort of gently!)

After putting this off for most of the week as it was raining, I awoke on Sunday with high hopes for the weather, as sunshine with only the occasional shower was forecast. However, the reality was slightly less than ideal.

Nothing for it but to grin and bear it - once you are wet, you can't get any wetter can you?

I'd bought the height corrector some years previously, from a dealer clearing out stock. £25 didn't seem too bad!!!

The plan is to rebuild the old one at leisure, so I always have a good one 'in stock'. They aren't too bad to rebuild and I already have a spare kit of seals after doing one on a previous BX. But doing it without the need to use the car always makes the job more enjoyable.

One of the pipes had rusted into the height corrector, and I reckon if I'd tugged on it, it would have failed. But the benefit of being a hoarder is that I already had a spare

So it was quickly under the car to escape the weather, and plumb it all in.

Then clip into place the pipes to the front end. New clips are still available, which is just as well as the old ones were too brittle to reuse.

Subframe was then jacked up into place, and the new exhaust section bolted into place. Job done!

That's impressive. Some of the showers today were so heavy that I decided I couldn't even be bothered to work on the car in the garage! In fact, I parked the 2CV in a multi-storey car park to avoid one of them...

The reason for wanting to get it finished was a 400 mile round trip on the Monday, which it dispatched with ease. A few motorways but mainly cross country A roads, which I reckon the BX deals with well - just eats up the miles and overtaking is a breeze with the masses of mid-range torque. At motorway speeds the wind noise is noticeable, at least by modern car standards so it's a little less relaxing.

I could have taken the Stellar but I didn't want to make a big arrival when I got there, plus fuel costs swung it towards the BX. That and AC, as (predictably) now that I don't need to be underneath it, the weather has picked up again!

After much soul-searching I've decided to sell this come the spring. I want something I can drive without worrying about the rain, snow and salt in the winter, something bigger to carry bikes (including a tandem) and the dog more easily, plus something that I need to spend less time working on.

I really don't know what to ask for it as on one hand it's quite a desirable spec and condition, but on the other the mileage (240k miles) may well put people off. Oh well, see what prices do once the weather warms up!

After much soul-searching I've decided to sell this come the spring. I want something I can drive without worrying about the rain, snow and salt in the winter, something bigger to carry bikes (including a tandem) and the dog more easily, plus something that I need to spend less time working on.

I really don't know what to ask for it as on one hand it's quite a desirable spec and condition, but on the other the mileage (240k miles) may well put people off. Oh well, see what prices do once the weather warms up!

See if the Doc fancies taking it on to graft the engine and box from Sinclair into.

One thing though, the cover will do it no favours unless you spent well over 3 figures. I found that out when I attempted to use one last year which I though was mid range.

In what way? It's (supposed to be!) breathable, and feels similar to the £100 one on the van, although was around half that. The van cover tends to last around 3 years before getting fragile, but seems to prevent condensation effectively. I'm not expecting it to last beyond a year or two, but will be checking underneath regularly. Plus I left the dehumidifier inside the car for a couple of days beforehand, to make it as dry as possible.

In what way? It's (supposed to be!) breathable, and feels similar to the £100 one on the van, although was around half that. The van cover tends to last around 3 years before getting fragile, but seems to prevent condensation effectively.

An expensive cover i.e. the one on the van will work properly as you have pointed out.

I put a £50 one on the Corsa for about 4 months and the windows were wringing with condensation, the interior was covered in mould and the strut tops appeared to be 'sweating' rust (only way I can describe it) It had also marked the paint despite being lashed well down.

After I removed it everything dried out fine and a coat of polish kept the paint fine as far as I could tell. My Astra is outside this winter with nothing on it either.